


A pearl

by Melle66



Category: NCIS
Genre: Christmas Fluff, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 23:21:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21707266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melle66/pseuds/Melle66
Summary: Okay, so I don't know if I can stretch this enough for it to fit in the "Office holiday party" prompt because a) it's not in the office, b) I guess it's technically not a party? But I decided to just shoot and run.All mistakes are mine, but special thanks to jenni3penny for helping me sort this mess and make it somewhat decent. You are an amazing human being.
Relationships: Jethro Gibbs/Jacqueline "Jack" Sloane
Comments: 11
Kudos: 88
Collections: 12 Days of Slibbs





	A pearl

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I don't know if I can stretch this enough for it to fit in the "Office holiday party" prompt because a) it's not in the office, b) I guess it's technically not a party? But I decided to just shoot and run.
> 
> All mistakes are mine, but special thanks to jenni3penny for helping me sort this mess and make it somewhat decent. You are an amazing human being.

Jack was late -as usual, said a voice in her head-, but it was certainly within acceptable parameters. What was truly unusual was the way she kept dragging her feet ever since she got out of work, having waited until everyone was gone so she didn’t have to face their begging eyes. Her official answer had been one of refusal; she would not go and nobody would convince her otherwise… or so she thought until she heard the rumor. A conversation she overheard in passing really, but how could she be expected to resist? If she thought she had learned from last Christmas not to get her hopes up, she was apparently too stubborn and, after all, she  _ needed _ closure.

Ellie and Kasie had somehow convinced everyone that they should hold a Christmas dinner before some of them left to see their families -that was  _ if _ they had the chance to leave. McGee offered his house, Torres promised to bring his famous  _ chicken piccata _ and Ducky, with Jimmy’s help, managed to find a date that suited everyone. Even though Vance wouldn't make it due to his official duties, it seemed obvious everyone was set on having a good time together, and when Jack met her invitation with reluctance, Ellie knew there was something off. She tried to figure out what it was through different means. She hinted at it as discreetly as she could, then made her intentions more evident when that didn’t work. Still, Jack managed to be dismissive and gave nothing away besides her “I might visit my family on that weekend,” which Bishop knew was bullshit. She could count with one hand the amount of times the profiler had  _ ever  _ mentioned her family, making it look like whatever ties she had to a previous life were superficial enough to be left behind a locked door.

So Ellie took it to Nick, who then took it to McGee, and by the time it was evident neither of them could figure out what on earth was going on with Sloane, they really needed to tell Gibbs about their -hopefully- nice Christmas reunion. Thinking he would rather avoid such an emotional engagement, they had counted on using the “Jack is coming” card to help make up his mind. Boy, were they surprised when they didn’t need it. He’d even bring the drinks.

That was exactly the reason why Jack arrived. Nobody had confirmed Gibbs presence, but she heard the rumor and her self-control seemed to evaporate at the mention of her Very Special Agent. He was also the reason why she almost turned around on her heel the moment she looked through the window and noticed he wasn’t there, but it was too late. Delilah had seen her and urged Tim to let her in, everybody welcoming her with warm smiles and genuine “so glad you could make it”s. So she tried her best to will her festive mood to come, but it wouldn’t budge. Christmases were full of emotions, warm words and alluring promises that disappeared long before dinner leftovers. Their Christmas was so long ago and here it was again, yet the firm ground on which she thought she stood grew less steady each day. 

As everyone settled back down on the living room, and picked up on their interrupted conversation -Torres soon started retelling how in his family they’d roller skate to mass for the Christmas service- it dawned on her that she  _ could _ take action to stop her bitterness. Maybe this Christmas -a whole year later- was a great time to accept friendship for what it was, stop hoping for more and just move on with life. Hadn’t she done that plenty of times after all? The problem was she didn’t  _ want  _ to. 

It took her a moment to realize the room had fallen silent and her friends were staring at her expectantly. She turned to Ducky with a blank face, trying to guess what she had been asked without making it more obvious that she had spaced out. Thankfully, Torres was still as bad at reading people as he had been when they met, so he clapped loudly and shot her a playful smile.

“Oh, c’mon Sloane!” he begged, pointing at himself with both thumbs, “If my family had an unusual christmas tradition, yours did to, so what was it?”

_ Oh, family _ she thought, coming to terms with the inevitable bittersweetness of the holidays. She forced a small smile out and looked around her at the people gathered beside her. Tim and Delilah were sitting together on the couch across from her. His arm was draped around her shoulder and her head rested on his, and Jack had to will herself not to think of  _ his _ arm around her for the sake of the evening. Bishop sat on the floor in front of them, her legs bent so that she could hug her knees, and the way the young woman looked at her full of hope and mirth. She didn’t deserve to be let down. Jimmy and Breena took turns to look in the direction of the stairs, trying to figure out if the noises that came upstairs meant the kids were playing in peace, relaxing when a loud set of giggles reached the living room. Kasie, sitting next to Breena, held a cushion against her chest like a little child waiting to hear a bedtime story. As for Ducky, Jack didn’t need to look back at him to know his gaze on her was encouraging, compassionate even. The man surely knew exactly what was going on in her head.

Lifting her hands palms up with a light shrug of her shoulders, Jack smile and finally nodded.

“When I was a kid, my parents would drive me around the city to look at the lights downtown” she started in a soft tone, and that single memory was enough for a spark of warmth to light in her heart. She looked around again, quickly, and chuckled with amusement at the looks of disappointment coming from her friends.

“That’s…” started Bishop, tilting her head to one side with a frown, “not exactly ‘unusual’, is it?”

“Nah, we did the same on our way back from mass” agreed Torres, glaring at Jack as if offended by the uneventfulness of her story.

“How did you do the same if you roller skated  _ to _ mass?” asked McGee, but by the look on his face, he was too busy trying to figure out the logic of Nick’s Christmas life to wait for an answer.

“Don’t lose focus, McGee. That was kinda lame” warned Torres although his eyes were still fixed on Jack. Squinting, he added, “You can do better, Sloane.”

A chuckle followed by a wider, more genuine smile from Jack put them at ease, “I never said that was all!” before any of them could interrupt again, she cleared her throat and leaned forward, finding it amusing when all of them inadvertently mirrored her movement, “While we were driving around, we took turns to talk about the pearls we found or received during the year. These pearls could be anything from an object, an experience, a person… Anything from meeting a new friend to going to a concert!” she paused, the smile on her face growing each time more contagious as she remembered, “Moments that were worth remembering, things that were meaningful and that stood out when we looked back at the year’s experiences.”

She finished talking with a slight shrug of one shoulder and stared at them expectantly, her smile still in place as she leaned back on the couch into a more relaxed position.

“See? I knew you wouldn’t let us down” Torres’ smile with an arched brow sealed his approval and he quickly rubbed his hands together, “Alright, follow up questions! Remember we only get three, so who’s ready to shoot?”

Her family tradition was so straight-forward that she didn’t think they’d have many questions, and judging by the way they kept looking at each other with blank faces, they agreed. Except for Delilah, who spoke in a light voice, “Why did it stop?

“Hmm?” Jack turned to her with a puzzled expression, and blinked a few times, trying to understand the question. Delilah shot her a small smile and raised her brows, “You said you did this when you were a child? But it sounds like something you could still be doing… So why did it stop?”

Understanding flashed across Jack’s eyes and she nodded slowly before shrugging, “I guess I saw it as childish and I was at that age when you  _ really _ want to dissociate from anything childish” she explained, her tone nostalgic. The last time she let her parents drive her around she was eleven. Or was it twelve? It seemed so long ago, and as usual, hindsight cursed over her, making her think she should have been less angsty. Her mother passed away two years later, and the following Christmas she wished she could go out for a ride one last time, even if it was in silence, even if they had somehow not found any pearl. She managed to become grateful, though, and she had worked hard to remain that way. Funny how this Christmas had so easily made her feel like she was twelve and ready to give up on the little joys in life again.

“And you never did it again? Ever?” Bishop looked surprised at the notion, reminding Jack of how little they knew of the person she had once been. Even she forgot how much she’d grown and been changed, and chosen to change or remain. Jack was always trying to get people to talk about what they didn’t want to talk about, and here she was, finally opening up about her private corner and the life she left in the warmth of California. 

“I did” she whispered without looking at anyone in specific, “the first Christmas after Afghanistan.”

The room was already silent as they waited for her answer, but the silence that followed it ran deeper, making her listen to her own breathing and the beating of her heart. Even the children upstairs seemed to find a less noisy entertainment. She smiled at her friends in reassurance, as wide as she could manage without it feeling forced.

“My therapist suggested I didn’t spend the holidays alone, so I went to my dad’s” she didn’t need to give them an explanation, and they weren’t asking for it, but for the first time in her time with them, she  _ wanted _ to talk about her family, so her mouth kept going, and the more she talked, the more her bitterness seemed to wash away. She had left California so abruptly that she hadn’t even sat down to enjoy these kind of memories.

“He hosted Christmas dinner with his wife, but I wasn’t ready for it. My little sister came into my room to try and convince me to go out, but I didn’t want to because I thought she’d try to make me talk to the guests and I couldn’t face the questions yet…” she paused after her voice had become almost a whisper. She took a deep breath in with her eyes closed, then shook her head with a chuckle, “Turns out she only dragged me out of the room to go for a walk, just the two of us.”

Her sister had always been like that, doing the absolutely unexpected and nailing it. Their father often called Jack his pride and joy, but the younger woman was his treasure… and Jack’s as well. She went on with her story when she felt Ducky’s light squeeze of her arm.

“I could see it was her attempt to get my mind off itself and help me wind down… We must have been out for two hours and we didn’t talk at all, you know?” she rolled her eyes at the memory, amused by how well her sister knew her, “She just guided me through the streets and had me watch rows and rows of glimmering houses. That is, until we were almost back at her house and she took my hand saying…” 

Her voice faltered abruptly as the emotion of that night washed over her. It was Jack’s job to know what to say to others, but being on the receiving end of the soothing, healing words was a whole new deal. She looked down at her hands, fidgeting with them before speaking again, her voice strong after clearing her throat.

“She said ‘this is a pearl, don’t you think?’ and how could I not agree? I was alive, and so was she, and we had each other… Why would I ever want more?.”

Why indeed? She wouldn’t lie to herself, the greatest reason why she had taken the job at NCIS was so she would be closer to her daughter, a woman she had never spent time with -albeit by her own choice-, and the reason why she had stayed took one step forward and three backwards. But she didn’t need more, and there was still time. She’d take what little ground Faith gave her, and she’d be there for Gibbs just as he would always be there for her. All these friends sitting around her… they were also enough and she was right where she was supposed to.

“That’s really sweet.” Kasie’s soft observation sounded loud in their reflective mood, but upon looking at her and seeing the way she clutched the cushion against her chest with big bright eyes made everyone smile in agreement.

“Yeah, now I feel a little ashamed to say our Christmas tradition is having a wrapping paper fight after opening the presents” added Jimmy, and Breena’s equally ashamed expression earned everyone’s laughter.

Gibbs chose that exact moment to arrive, letting himself in without knocking due to the occasion. If he was curious about the reason they were laughing, he didn’t show it. Instead, he stood, holding two full bags in his hands, and a frown on his face.

“We having dinner or what?”

Just like that, they stood up and headed to the dining room. While Tim helped move Delilah, Jack saw Jimmy go into the kitchen to get the food and followed suit, with Gibbs and Bishop soon on their heels. The food was delicious, and the company even more so. Torres and Kasie lead the talking, each of them more than eager to share Christmas memories, with Ducky occasionally adding one or two of his own, explaining the things he did differently.

It was a lovely evening that did manage to get Jack in the right mood for the holidays instead of having her grow nostalgic, and when little Morgan ditched sitting next to her mother to go and sit on Jack’s lap, she could barely contain an “awe.” Delilah’s wide eyes met Jack’s puppy ones, so the mother sighed, smiled and simply warned the little girl to behave. She knew, of course, that she was part of their lives, but it still amazed her how easily she seemed to have fallen in the right place among them, Morgan’s comfort around her only proving it. Ending the night with a wrapping paper fight seemed to be the only fitting way to say their goodbyes.

* * *

By the time Gibbs parked his truck on the seemingly empty neighborhood, the whole evening felt like a dream, one she didn’t want to wake up from. That was why she kept growing less and less enthusiastic about the whole “Christmas spirit”. Sooner or later, it was over and the bubble of happiness crafted over a month burst to let everyone fall face first on reality.

His hand found hers as he turned off the engine, and she turned to see him briefly glance at her with a smile. Resting her head on the window, she looked through it to enjoy the lights shining all over the street. With a contented sigh, she squeezed his hand and let a playful smile show on her face.

“So…” she started, her brows arched, “When you offered to drive me home, you meant  _ your _ home?”

Gibbs didn’t even attempt to hide his grin as he shrugged, looking ahead of him.

“Got a problem with that?”

She laughed with mirth while shaking her head, “None at all,” she said, and it was true. This time she was prepared to take what she was given and not expect anything else.

They fell into a well-lived routine, with Jack heading to the kitchen to get two glasses and whatever he had to drink while Gibbs lighted the fire. She couldn’t help but feel he leaned a little too close to her as they sat, and silently chastised herself for her inability to stop reading too much into things, but then he took her glass from her hand and put it away with his and turned with his whole body to face her. His knees pressed against her leg and his face moved only a few inches away from hers. Although her instincts told her to move and put some space between them, his hand landed on her cheek and her only reaction was leaning into it and closing her eyes. He kissed her so softly that she barely felt his lips ghost over hers, but it lasted only a moment. Sliding one arm around her waist and the one on her face to the back of her neck, he pulled her flush against him and kissed her more firmly. 

She knew it was going to happen again the instant he offered her a ride, or maybe she knew it when she saw the way he was looking at her when McGee finally took a sleepy Morgan from her arms to take her to bed. Hell, if she was honest to herself, she knew as soon as she decided to attend the stupid dinner. She chose between the comfort of her home -and heart- at the expense of missing out the company, and having another night with him -a decidedly passionate, exhilarating, sleep-deprived night- at the expense of having her heart broken  _ again _ when he never talked about it again until next Christmas. Who knew? Maybe it was to become their own little tradition.

“You are a pearl, Jack.”

His voice was low, and she felt the whisper brush against her neck. His body so warm and comfortable against hers that it took a full minute for his words to sink in. Opening her eyes in surprise, she stared at him wide-eyed.

“You were listening!”

He only nodded before holding her face with both hands and kissing her again.


End file.
